GEOLOGICALLY HAZARDOUS AREAS SKAGIT COUNTY DISCUSSION AND BEST AVAILABLE SCIENCE REVIEW Skagit County Planning and Development Services John Cooper, Planner, Geologist June 2, 2006 GEOLOGICALLY HAZARDOUS AREAS Introduction The Washington State Growth Management Act (GMA) mandates that cities and counties adopt policies and regulations to protect the function and values of critical areas. Among these critical areas mandated for protection by the GMA are geologically hazardous areas. Skagit County’s Comprehensive Plan states “ Geologically hazardous areas include areas susceptible to the affects of erosion, sliding, earthquakes, or other geologic events. They pose a threat to the health and safety of citizens when incompatible residential, commercial, industrial, or infrastructure development is sited in areas of a hazard. Geologic hazards pose a risk to life property, and resources when steep slopes are destabilized by inappropriate activities and development or when structures or facilities are sited in areas susceptible to natural or human caused geologic events. Some geologic hazards can be reduced or mitigated by engineering, design, or modified construction practices so that the risks to health and safety are acceptable. When technology cannot reduce risks to acceptable levels, building and other construction in above, and below geologically hazardous areas should be avoided. ” Skagit County’s Critical Areas regulations designate Geologically Hazardous Areas (SCC 14.24.400) based on the following definition (Skagit County Code (SCC) 14.04.020): “ Areas that, because of their susceptibility to erosion, sliding, earthquake, or other geological events, are not suited to the siting of commercial, residential, or industrial development consistent with public health and safety concerns. ” The Washington State Department of Community, Trade and Economic Development (CTED), administrator of the GMA, describes geologically hazardous areas as those areas that “pose a threat to the health and safety of citizens when incompatible commercial, residential or industrial development is sited in areas of significant hazard.” CTED further describes geologically hazardous areas as having “an important function in maintaining habitat integrity. Mass wasting events such as landslides and debris flows, contribute sediment and wood for building complex instream habitats, estuarine marshes and beaches important for fisheries, wildlife and recreation. At the same time, mass wasting events can harm habitat and lead to the need for stream restoration.” These definitions and descriptions by Skagit County and CTED indicate that the primary purpose of the geologically hazardous areas code is not necessarily to protect areas from development but to protect development from geologically sensitive areas. Identification of geologically hazardous areas provides local governments with a means to protect life and property from development of lands that are unsuitable due to geologic and hydrogeologic characteristics or features. Geologically hazardous areas designation provides protection to the individual and the general public by identifying and restricting development in areas that are geologically sensitive to development. In some cases the preservation of geologically sensitive areas is managed by the federal government or the State of Washington, however under the Growth Management Act, it ________________________________________________________________________ Skagit County Planning and Development Services Page 2 of 24 Geologically Hazardous Areas Best Available Science is the responsibility of local government to ensure protection from geologically hazardous areas within their individual jurisdictions. As the administrator for the Growth Management Act, CTED provides guidance for jurisdictions to consider the designation of Geologically Hazardous Areas. CTED suggests the local jurisdictions to consider the following areas for designation as geologically hazardous areas: • Erosion hazard areas (including river and coastal stream bank erosion areas and channel migration zones). • Landslide hazard areas. • Seismic hazards areas. • Areas subject to other geological events such as mine hazard areas, volcanic hazard areas, rock fall areas, areas susceptible to debris/mud flows, differential settlement and liquefaction areas. CTED further suggests that local government classify geologically hazardous areas as either known or suspected risk depending on the geologic information available to the local jurisdiction, or unknown risk where information is not available to determine the presence or absence of a geologic hazard. Existing Conditions Skagit County is an area of diverse geologic conditions which, under CTED’s suggested designations, represent a known, suspect and unknown risk to development and public health. These geologic conditions include orogenic and volcanic forces in the Cascade Range and foothills of eastern Skagit County. The topographic extremes created by these mountain building forces have been further sculpted by ice, wind, and water, including multiple stades of glacial advance and retreat, resulting in the steep slopes, narrow river valleys, and broad “U” shaped glacial valleys characteristic of Skagit County. Sediments eroded from the mountains and valleys have been transported west by fluvial geomorphic processes for deposition in the deltaic environment of western Skagit County. Glacial isostatic rebound and/or a subduction zone compression bulge in the lowlands of Skagit County may represent Holocene uplift. This uplift, combined with the erosion forces from the ocean, has resulted in the many coastal bluffs present along the coastline of Skagit County. The sediment eroded from the coastal bluffs are transported via drift cells and deposited on the many coastal beaches. The geologic conditions of this region are further complicated by the presence of oceanic spreading centers off Washington’s coast. The spreading centers create new ocean floor and continually push older oceanic crust to the west, resulting in some of the islands in western Skagit County. Oceanic crust pushed to the west eventually collides offshore with the thicker North American continental crust and is subducted. The compression associated with subduction results in a multitude of geologic events including seismic ________________________________________________________________________ Skagit County Planning and Development Services Page 3 of 24 Geologically Hazardous Areas Best Available Science activity and the development of faults. As the crust is thrust downward toward the earths mantle, the oceanic crust melts forming the magma which is responsible for the orogenic and volcanic forces present in the Cascade Mountains. The diversity and complexity of these geologic characteristics and events give rise to a multitude of geologically hazardous conditions present within Skagit County. Code review and comparison The multitude of geologically hazardous conditions within Skagit County can be classified into the four separate categories recommended be CTED (2003). Those categories include Erosion Hazards, Landslide Hazards, Seismic Hazards, and Volcanic Hazards. Skagit County developed a fifth category which addresses those miscellaneous geologic hazards not specifically related to the four primary categories. The fifth category primarily includes alluvial fan deposits, which may indicate an area of mud or debris flow deposition, and mining hazards resulting from construction and/or operation of mines. In order to utilize the information available to the County in identifying the five categories of geologically hazardous areas (and as further recommended by CTED), each category is elaborated to include descriptive elements provided by Skagit County’s “Best Available Science” (BAS) review. Each of the elements described does not necessarily indicate a geologically hazardous area but may represent a known or suspect geologic condition commonly associated with geologically hazardous areas. The following is representative of the categories followed by the supportive elements. The data or BAS source for each element is included in parenthesis. Erosion hazard elements include: • Severe soil erosion areas (Soil Survey of Skagit County), • Slopes greater then 30% (Soil Survey of Skagit County), • Coastal beaches (geologic maps), • Coastal bluffs (DOE Coastal Atlas), and • Channel migration zones (geologic maps). Landslide hazard elements include: • Landslide hazard areas (Soil Survey of Skagit County, geologic maps, and DOE Coastal Atlas). Seismic hazard subcategories include: • High liquefaction areas (geologic maps), • Active fault zones (geologic maps), and • Tsunami and seiche hazard areas (geologic maps). Volcanic hazard subcategories include: • Volcanic debris flows/lahars (geologic maps). ________________________________________________________________________ Skagit County Planning and Development Services Page 4 of 24 Geologically Hazardous Areas Best Available Science Other geologically hazardous areas subcategories include: • Alluvial hazards (geologic maps), and • Mining hazards (geologic and mining maps). The geologic conditions indicated in each of the elements may represent a risk to public health and property in the event that development encroaches into geologically hazardous areas. Skagit County’s Comprehensive Plan includes a Supplemental Map Portfolio which includes a map illustrating potential geologically hazardous areas. Various other resources